Newly-appointed Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau Director Zheng Xiaosong has vowed that he will familiarise himself with Macau’s “public sentiment’ as quickly as possible, according to a statement from the office on Friday.

The State Council announced Zheng’s appointment on Friday, replacing Wang Zhimin as Beijing’s top official in Macau.

Zheng, 58, was a vice minister of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), before being appointed director of the Liaison Office in Macau, according to the statement.

According to the website of the Ministry of Finance (MOF) where he previously worked, Zheng, who studied Norwegian at the University of Oslo, joined the CPC in 1986.

Working at the Foreign Ministry from 1993 to 1996, Zheng joined the Ministry of Finance in 2000, before he was appointed assistant minister in 2012, according to the MOF’s website.

Zheng was the vice-governor of Fujian province from 2013 to last year, before he started working at the CPC Central Committee International Department in July last year.

According to the Liaison Office’s statement on Friday, Zheng said that he is honoured to have been given the opportunity to participate in the implementation of the “one country, two systems” principle in Macau.

Zheng said that he would firmly support the local government in administering Macau in accordance with the law, pledging that he would familiarise himself with Macau’s “public sentiment” as quickly as possible, according to the statement.

Zheng said that he would make friends with the various segments of Macau’s civil society and “modestly” listen to different opinions, adding that he would promote and enhance exchanges and cooperation between Macau and the mainland, according to the statement.

Wang Zhimin has replaced Zhang Xiaoming as the director of the Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Hong Kong. Zhang was appointed as the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council, replacing Wang Guangya, 67, who retired.

Wang Zhimin was appointed as the director of the Liaison Office in Macau in July last year.